The FOIA request for Swartz's file comes from Wired reporter Kevin Poulsen, who ended up suing for access after his public information request was denied by the Homeland Security Department (that's the parent organization of the Secret Service). And then, in July, a judge ordered the department to "promptly" begin the release of documents that promise to give the public a lot more information on the investigation leading to the federal case against the activist. That release was supposed to begin tomorrow. Now, the process is delayed once more.

Here's the gist of MIT's rationale for the delay, which argues that MIT's right to protect their employees outweighs Poulsen's right to public information:

MIT has reason to believe that documents that may imminently be released by the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") to Mr. Poulsen in the present case contain similar information that, if released without appropriate redactions, could jeopardize the safety of MIT community members and make its network more vulnerable to cyberattacks. MIT therefore moves to intervene as a Defendant and asks this Court to establish a process that affords MIT the opportunity to conduct an expeditious pre-release review of any documents that contain information that MIT submitted to DHS or that describes MIT's employees or networks. This will permit MIT to propose appropriate redactions to DHS before the documents are released to Mr. Poulsen and placed irretrievably into the public domain.

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